Wednesday, 7 March 2012

Bounties? In the NFL? Nah….

Maybe someone can tell me why I should be appalled that the New Orleans Saints (and apparently the Washington Redskins, although I can’t tell that it helped them) were offering bounties for taking out players or making big plays.

Uncle Luke and the University of Miami would be proud the NFL finally caught on.

Seriously, am I the only one who doesn’t believe this is a big deal?

Don’t get me wrong, trying to injure players on purpose is wrong. But I don’t think NFL players go into games trying “to take players out.” You can’t tell me guys who make millions of dollars are going bonkers trying to make $500 or $1,000. That’s pocket change for the majority of them.

The thing is, players go hard. The NFL is a physical sport and if players can get a good shot on an opponent, best believe it will be taken. But doing it for money? It goes against an unwritten code among competitors.

The NFL will make examples out of the Saints and former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, who has moved on to St. Louis. There will be fines, suspensions and maybe draft choices taken away from the parties. In today’s politically correct world, that is the cost.

Maybe I’m missing the big picture but it really seems overblown to me.